The School of Natural Cookery – a review

Several years ago, I’d heard that steaming was the best way to cook veggies.  There’s no oil involved, only water.  So it must be healthy, right?  Emboldened to try this (new-to-me) cooking technique, I cut up a variety of veggies and tossed them into a perforated stainless steel basket that was placed over a big pot of boiling water.  After the veggies were fork tender, I removed them from the heat.  As I was discarding the water in the bottom of the pot, I could not help but notice that the water had gained some new-found color — and it was clearly the color that the veggies (now paler than they had been when they were raw) had lost!  But that’s not all that the veggies had lost.  They had lost so much of their intrinsic flavor that I needed to pour on some salad dressing just to make them barely palatable.  So I ended up with oil on the veggies after all.  Steaming was clearly not the answer.

And Then I Found The School of Natural Cookery

What I didn’t know at that time is that there is indeed a way to cook veggies with water and still retain their vibrant color and healthy nutrients.  The School of Natural Cookery, where I enrolled in the professional curriculum in 2014, eventually taught me the secret of “steeping” veggies.  I’ve talked to graduates of other culinary schools, and none of them have been aware of this great technique for cooking veggies.  But it makes sense to me that The School of Natural Cookery would have a leg up on other culinary schools when it comes to cooking vegetables.  The curriculum at this school is focused on whole-foods, plant-based cuisine.  Most of the other culinary schools that I investigated considered plant-based cuisine as only part of their curriculum — but at The School of Natural Cookery, it’s the whole enchilada (so to speak).

As a long-time vegetarian — now vegan — I was not at all interested in learning how to cook meat, so that narrowed my potential options for culinary schools quite a bit.  After talking at length on the phone with Julianaa Satie, the School’s founder, I was convinced that The School of Natural Cookery was the right place for me.  I was happy to know that I could work through most of the program in my own kitchen, although  periodic week-long studio sessions in Colorado were required for graduation.  And I was glad to know that the program had existed since 1983 — so it was not an untested or fly-by-night operation.

Soon after enrollment I received the course materials in the mail.  These materials included: 1) a full-tang, well balanced vegetable knife; 2) the course textbook, entitled Intuitive Cooking; and 3) a 3-ring binder workbook.  And, of course, I gained 24/7 access to the course videos and to weekly webinars with Maihaa Keeley, my main instructor.

How to Transform Food

As I recall, the first video that I watched was on the topic of salt.  At the time, I was surprised by this introductory subject, but in retrospect it makes sense — because salt, often paired with heat, is what transforms food and blends flavors.  It was the first of many enlightening and informative videos that I watched to complete the curriculum.

Completing the Course Requirements

Next came the challenging task of figuring out how to complete the assignments each week.  Per the school’s emphasis on intuitive cooking, I was not given a list of recipes to make.  Rather, I was encouraged to demonstrate my grasp of the cooking techniques by pulling together dishes using the ingredients I happened to have on hand in the pantry or refrigerator.  At first I was a bit uneasy with this approach, so in the beginning I often used recipes for inspiration — and would then figure out how to make a similar dish using the techniques I was learning.  Gradually I began to trust myself more, and now I have no problem pulling together a tasty and nutritious meal without reference to specific measurements and recipes.

The course was truly comprehensive, teaching me to roast nuts, create sauces, bake hearty breads, prepare raw-food dishes, cook plant-based proteins, prepare delectable desserts, and so much more.  I learned big things and small things — like how to safely and efficiently handle a chef’s knife and why I should remove the strings from celery.  By the end of the course, I had filled a 3-inch binder with all of the “recipe sketch” forms that I used to document my completion of each course requirement.  I still refer back to those sketches from time to time, although now I usually cook intuitively, the way that the school intended.

And Then There Were the Studio Sessions

The studio sessions in Colorado were a critical part of the course.  As far as I can tell, there is no substitute for having an instructor watch your technique in the kitchen and offer constructive criticism — like “Drop your wrist to the cutting board for more stability!” or “Don’t stand around watching something cook — start another task that you can complete simultaneously.”  I had plenty of one-of-one attention during these sessions, because each session included only a few students who were at the same stage of the course as I was.  Each day of the studio session we’d receive instructions for the assignments to be completed by lunchtime and would then descend on our respective stations in the kitchen.  After several hours of intense chopping, stirring, cooking, and tasting, we’d all finish four or five dishes and would bring them to the table for critique and consumption.  I’m sure that the school was using these sessions to find out if we had truly learned the necessary techniques in the privacy of our kitchens.  But perhaps more importantly, the studio sessions also showed *us* that we could deliver in the kitchen and had legitimately earned the school’s certificate.

It’s my belief that The School of Natural Cookery prepares its graduates for a variety of careers in the food industry.  Since graduating from the school in 2016, I have considered a number of options — such as opening a restaurant or food truck; starting a catering business; offering my services as a personal chef; and preparing baked goods for sale at the local farmers’ market.  All of these options are tempting in various ways, and the primary factor in deciding which direction to take has been determining how to fit my culinary activities into my life alongside other commitments.  I still want plenty of time to develop my new landscape-photography business, travel with my husband, volunteer my time with animal-advocacy organizations (primarily Unitarian Universalist Animal Ministry), spend time with friends and family, and get regular exercise and plenty of sleep.  So, for now, food blogging is the best, most flexible choice for me.  The point is that I believe The Natural Cookery curriculum would have prepared me for those other options, too.  And who knows? Perhaps down the line I will embark on some of those pathways as well.

Necessary Adjuncts

Any curriculum must have its boundaries and can’t teach the students everything they must know.  In this case, I thought it was critically important for me to also complete a rigorous food sanitation course.  So I enrolled in a class at the local community college at the same time I was learning the Natural Cookery curriculum.  Following completion of the food-sanitation class, I received my ServSafe® Certification and my Northern Virginia Food Manager Certificate.  I believe this knowledge (and these qualifications) are important because a chef must not only ensure that his or her food is tasty and nutritious; the chef must also ensure that the food is safe to eat.   There are an amazing number of things that can go wrong with food, and many risks can be avoided by following the adage to keep hot foods hot and cold foods cold.  But there are many other details to learn and memorize, and as far as I can tell, there is no replacement for a full-scale food sanitation class.

Another important adjunct is the fine art of plating.  Arranging the food carefully on a plate, and adding appropriate garnishes, is truly the finishing touch that will take a dish to a higher level.  I didn’t learn plating techniques from The School of Natural Cookery, although perhaps the curriculum has since been expanded to include this component.  Now, as a food blogger with an Instagram account, I spend quite a lot of time thinking about how to make my food look as appetizing as possible.  There’s a lot to learn, and I’m hoping you will see gradual progress if you follow my Insta feed.

Plant-Based Cuisine is Becoming a (Bigger) Thing

I’m convinced that whole-foods, plant-based cuisine is a rapidly growing field.   As just one example, look at the enthusiastic adoption of alternative, plant-based milks.  People are beginning to pay more attention to the environmental, health, and ethical reasons to limit or eliminate their meat consumption and adopt a plant-based diet.  So we’ll need plenty of chefs who know the right way to preserve and enhance the flavor of veggies, grains, legumes, and nuts.  Are you ready to learn?  If so, The School of Natural Cookery is the perfect place to go.